Did P-Noy just sully his choice for CJ?

“Luxurious but not overpriced.” That’s how Comelec chairman Sixto Brillantes downplays his agency’s misspending on the seven commissioners’ cottages in Baguio.

They had squandered P91,250 apiece for seven king-size beds, P84,600 each for 17 queen-size beds, P694,589.72 for curtains, and P340,552.35 for blinds. They could have purchased the same for only one-tenth the tag.

“The issue is moral and not legal,” Brillantes sidesteps criminal liability. But they can’t.

The Constitution states in Article XI, Accountability of Public Officers, Section 1: “Public office is a public trust. Public officers and employees must at all times be accountable to the people, serve them with utmost responsibility, integrity, loyalty, and efficiency, act with patriotism and justice, and lead modest lives.”

For culpable violation of this provision, Brillantes can be impeached, under Section 2.

Removed from office, Brillantes can then be charged criminally. Underlings can be indicted ahead for violating the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees (R.A. 6713). The law, in Section 4, reiterates the constitutional mandate for simple living. “They shall not indulge in extravagance,” more so, if at taxpayer expense.

The Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act (R.A. 3019) also has an all-encompassing Section 3(g), declaring as unlawful: “Entering, on behalf of the Government, into any contract or transaction manifestly and grossly disadvantageous to the same, whether or not the public officer profited or will profit thereby.”

Penalty: imprisonment of six to 15 years, and perpetual bar from public office.

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The Judicial and Bar Council held its most careful and open vetting by far, for a new Chief Justice. The result was a shortlist that, with eight nominees, is quite long. Still President Noynoy Aquino was unhappy because, for him, the procedure was unfair. He said he has no option but to choose the next CJ from it, because required by the Constitution.

In saying such, did Aquino just discredit whomever he will select? Would he not be taken to mean he is being forced to pick from among second-raters? Given the awesome powers of the Presidency, Aquino’s personal opinion is also official.

The shortlist has two Aquino Cabinet members: Solicitor General Francis Jardeleza and Governance Commission for GOCCs chairman Cesar Villanueva. Presumably he appointed them for their credentials, not familial or political accommodation. Aquino earlier had made Jardeleza Deputy Ombudsman for Luzon.

The list includes five Supreme Court justices, among them acting CJ Antonio Carpio and Ma. Lourdes Sereno. Sereno is Aquino’s first ever placement to the SC. He must have picked her, from a similar JBC list, for professional feats, not old school ties. Carpio often was smeared by ex-CJ (and administration nemesis) Renato Corona. Likely Aquino didn’t buy Corona’s claims, attributing those instead to Carpio’s staunch independence from his (and Corona’s) appointer, Gloria Arroyo.

Also in the list is one-time executive secretary and congressman Ronaldo Zamora. Aquino, as congressman of Tarlac early last decade, once worked under Zamora’s Minority Leadership.

Aquino stated: “Their (JBC) rules say those with disbarment cases will not be considered. There are those facing charges, but were suddenly cleared. There are others who don’t have any case, but were suddenly disqualified. How can that be fair?”

There are answers to Aquino’s doubts, but his underlings might not have told him. Like, the JBC rule automatically disqualifies any aspirant who is “facing regular criminal or administrative cases.” Regular means probable cause has been determined. In disbarment, it means the SC has found reason to refer a complaint to the Integrated Bar of the Philippines for hearing.

Only three candidates had disbarment raps. All are Aquino appointees: Jardeleza, SEC chairwoman Teresita Herbosa, and Justice Secretary (and JBC ex officio member) Leila de Lima.

The rap against Jardeleza, for violating the lawyer’s oath, is still being processed by the SC’s Office of the Bar Confidante. As such, it is not yet a regular administrative case. (Malacañang’s spies might wish to find out who the perennial complainant is.) Herbosa’s old case was dismissed by the IBP soon after her application for CJ. The IBP might be praised for acting with dispatch, although Herbosa still didn’t garner enough votes into the shortlist.

De Lima has two disbarment cases, both relating to Arroyo’s foiled flight abroad from heinous criminal indictment, last November. The SC transmitted these to the IBP only after de Lima applied for CJ. But then, there was no other time to do it. Only with Corona’s ouster was created a vacancy and the JBC open nominations, which de Lima joined. The raps against de Lima hewed with one of eight counts for Corona’s impeachment. It wouldn’t have been right for the SC to refer de Lima’s disbarment to the IBP during Corona’s trial. The IBP could have misread such act as an SC desire to remove de Lima, while Corona was being tried on a related issue.

That was the very reason why de Lima herself opposed last year relaxing the JBC’s automatic-disqualification rule. She said then that it would wrongly signal to trial courts and adjudicating bodies that the CJ, who chairs the JBC, and the Court Administrator, as consultant, want the cases dropped.

De Lima and her stand-in at the JBC wanted the rule suspended. But the JBC refused, for it was struggling to live down being partly to blame for the mess in the Judiciary.

Aquino’s frankness with his views may have an unintended reverse psychological effect. Whoever he appoints will be constrained to prove his mettle from the start, so decide with no fear or favor of the appointer.

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